This week I finished a Cornell Outdoor Education experience and I highly recommend COE for anyone interested in having fun outdoors or at least for anyone interested in getting outside of Sage Hall once a week during the semester. My COE experience was a 5-week mountain biking class that included tours of Shindagin Hollow and Hammond Hill, two of Ithaca`s best sets of well-maintained mountain biking trails. Shindagin Hollow is actually rated nationally as one of the best mountain biking trails in the Northeast. But, if you are interested in learning the local trails near Cornell, then this class is a great way to do just that as well as pick up a few technical tips on trail navigation, group riding and bike maintenance along the way.


Cornell Outdoor Education offers a ton of classes including mountain biking, kayaking, rock climbing, skiing, snowboarding, hiking, caving and all other types of myriad activities for having fun outside. I decided to take the mountain biking class this semester because this summer I spent a small fortune on a new mountain bike and wanted to make sure that I rode at least a dozen or so times before the riding season ended. In this class, we rode once a week on Fridays from about 1pm to 6pm. It was really a lot of fun and the instructors were not only great riders but were also committed to the entire group`s learning and riding development. There are also other sections of the class that met during alternative times during the week to give everyone an option of finding a class that worked best with their schedules.


The class ranged from those who had never before been mountain biking to those who have pretty much been riding our whole lives. I grew up riding bikes and have just always found cycling very enjoyable. When I was younger, I rode my bike back and forth to elementary school and started BMX riding and freestyle not too long after. I remember getting a Diamondback Viper for Christmas when I was in the 5th grade and I rode that bike until I was a freshman in high school. High school was a time was the cool kids were either getting rides from upper classman or starting in junior year, began driving ourselves. So I hung my bike up until college when my Dad bought me a beach cruiser with a wire basket on the front.

Thinking back, I probably looked like Pee-Wee Herman but that bike was efficient for getting around the campus and community of my rural college and it was also a lot of fun to ride. I started mountain biking in grad school when I first moved to Illinois in 1999 and have been mountain biking ever since. It`s a great sport one that I recommend for adrenaline junkies and for those who want to blend cardio exercise with technical, obstacle-based maneuvering. In other words, mountain biking is a physical and mental activity and can pretty much be done year-round. Once it gets too cold, I tend to put the bike away for a few months and go back to the gym, but at the end of the day it`s a nice complement to any exercise program.


But overall, the COE Mountain Biking class was awesome and I think getting outdoors, especially in Ithaca, is an important part of living here. It is so beautiful in Ithaca and being outdoors is such a great way to enjoy the seasons around here. If you are current student at Cornell, take a COE course. If you are a prospective student, consider Cornell Outdoor Education as just another thing that makes Cornell special and that hopefully gives you another reason to come to the Johnson School. There is a lot to love about Johnson and after your first year, you can begin to explore what makes Johnson special beyond the walls of Sage Hall.

I was once told by an acquaintance of mine that there are three types of people at business school: (1) hunters, (2) skinners, and (3) cooks. Hunters are those with a burning desire to be on the front lines. For example, these types most enjoy being face-to-face with clients, winning new business or generally being wherever the action is happening and being wherever the sparks are most likely to fly. Skinners are those who seem to most enjoy synthesizing raw data into slightly more manageable streams that serve organizational needs and serve as important conduits between an organizations internal and external environments. Then there are cooks. Cooks are those who prefer to keep the back-end business simmering (perhaps these are those most likely to 'cook the books'). They may most enjoy the transactional aspects of managing their business day-to-day but may not have the burning instinct to boldly charge into an entirely new sector or forge an entirely new strategy for tackling an adjacent industry, for example.

As a 2nd year, I can vouch that it has been incredibly important to really figure out where you fit in the organizational landscape or at least where you most want to be. Because if you are in a place or working for an organization that meshes well with your natural (or trait-level for all you organizational psychologists out there) disposition, you are more likely be most successful in the long term. The reason is because as leaders, managers or even in our day-to-day lives we all tend to settle into a natural rhythm over time that dictates our most comfortable pace. Just like running on a treadmill, we start by tinkering with our speed up and then down or maybe first down and then up, but eventually we find a pace that we can maintain for the entirety of our workout. It seems to follow that this is analogous to our careers in some ways. To the extent our corporate environments or workplaces generally support those things that come naturally to us or at least support a pace that we can handle over the long-term, then we are more likely to be successful than would be the case if we were in an environment moving at a snails pace or exceeding a pace with which we can comfortably keep up.

My point is this: figure out who you are and the sooner the better. If not before business school, at least by the start of your 2nd year because the choices you make in your second year are those that you will need to commit to for at least your first couple of years out of school. So why not take the time to make the best decisions possible and leverage insights with regards to what most makes you tick? Instead of going wherever you can make the most money, or entering an organization at the most envious position, or having as much positional authority and control as possible to start, why not just figure out where you can best be your most authentic self. Start there and I think if we do that, then we are all even more likely to find the long-term success than we could have ever engineered in advance. Your Cornell MBA is going to open a whole of doors to the most savory, sumptuous and downright delectable opportunities that most of us could have even imagined. But the 2nd year requires making choices and my recommendation is to make the best choices possible for your long-term success.

Riding a century (i.e. shop talk among cyclists referring to the 100-mile distance) was an endurance challenge pretty high on my list of all-time things to do. I like to keep a list of personal challenges that most excite me and try focus on tackling some sort of significant challenge every 6-12 months or so. A mentor of mine told me a long time ago to write my goals down as a method of committing to them and since that time I keep a list of financial, educational and personal goals that I revise about every month. As I look back over that list, it is amazing to see that I have accomplished most of my goals and at least come very close to accomplishing all of them. So when I committed to riding the 2009 Aids Ride for Life and recorded it on my goal sheet, I knew that I was as good as committed and finally hit that goal as well last weekend.


Most people riding the 100-mile distance typically put in about 12 weeks of serious training that includes an increasing schedule of regular riding distances each week. Even following an increasing distance riding schedule one never typically rides over 70-80 miles during training with the understanding being that on day of the ride you will summon the strength and to grind out the remaining distance riding on pure adrenaline. There are all types of training programs available to download and most of schedules will allow you to reach the century distance and do so in a pretty good time. My ride last weekend took me 8 hours to complete and by about mile 80 I was surely riding on endorphins and pure determination to finish the race. As you might imagine, being on the bike for that length of time would make anyones hither-parts rather tender and so my goal at that point was to finish as quickly as possible so that I could sit down somewhere comfy and relax.


All-in-all the ride was fun. As with finishing any endurance activity it was an exercise in the proverbial mind over matter. But I think that all goals are the same way actually. Sometimes even our most challenging goals are not always challenging given the nature or scale of the activity, but instead challenging because we psyche ourselves out of thinking that we can do it. That is why writing your goals down is important. Writing your goals down prevents you from psyching yourself out and forces you to commit. Once you commit, then the path to achievement automatically becomes clear. That was the case for me with accomplishing my first 100 mile bike ride. Whether I do another century ride is yet to be seen, but at least I can cross that off my list of goals knowing that I have officially crossed the finish line!

Since now that I have officially brought to closure my first year as an MBA, almost including now my summer internship as well, I cannot help but reflect and consider how I have changed personally and grown professionally even in the relatively short period of the past 12 months. My first year at Johnson was pretty awesome and although in some ways last summer feels almost like an eternity ago, in some other ways it feels like only yesterday that I bid my farewells at my previous job, closed on the sale of my home and drove my Budget moving truck back to my parent's home in Cherry Hill, NJ. Until last summer, I had not lived within a 12 hour drive of my family in about 9 years and I was excited to be back on my old stomping grounds. Catching up with family, friends, and working through my summer reading made for an easygoing summer and after staying at my previous job for a few years longer than I should have, I was honestly excited just to have more than a couple of days of recreational time for a change.

The downtime was restful and I needed it to get prepared for core classes. One thing I could have done differently was reach out to core professors and ask them for direction on best preparing for the first seven weeks of core classes (core professors can be found on the Johnson website under current students). Core professors are able to offer specific insight on what would be helpful prerequisite learning depending on your background and speaking to them before class starts would be a great way to differentiate yourself from your other 270 or so classmates. Things like getting to know your professors are important lessons in business school that not everyone manages as well as they should. Professors can be an incredible source of information for researching your career interests and even putting in a good word for you with recruiters. Many core professors have been teaching the same core classes for a dozen years or so and because alums are those coming back to campus for recruiting, those professors have good relationships with them and it would be in your interest to ensure that your professors not only know you but also have something positive to say about you.

Winter break and second semester was all about recruiting, keeping my options open and setting myself up for long-term career success. Because I am considering careers in both the private sector and academe, my career development approach was a little different from that of some of my peers. First, I used the break to attend conferences and talk to as many people as possible about my interests. I generally have no problems with meeting new people, introducing myself, and building relationships that expand my personal and professional networks. With respect to the latter, the key to networking is taking an interest in other people and figuring out how you can be of some type of service to someone else. With that approach you will be a better and more focused conversationalist and position yourself as someone with respect to whom you are speaking might also consider including to their network as well. Overall, using the break to be deliberate about building new professional relationships is a good idea.

Second, I created a detailed gameplan for using my coursework to my best advantage. I chose the customized immersion and then tailored my curriculum precisely around those experiences that I thought would be most beneficial to me both for the summer and beyond. For example, I took Managerial Spreadsheet Modeling because I knew that whatever firm I joined for the summer my role would likely include a significant amount of work in Excel. By the way, all immersions are designed to take the guess work out of doing this in your second semester but given my unique interests, the customized immersion was the best way to go for me. I took 18.5 credits, which was 3.5 credits or about 3 classes more than the requisite 15 credits per semester expected. But, there was a ton of stuff that interested me and I had a hard time deciding and so I just decided to take them all. In retrospect, that was a heavy load but I tend to perform better under pressure and what is more, I came to Johnson for exactly that type of challenge. Consider doing the same but make sure that you know your limits and strike the right balance.


After that end of the semester, I took about a 3 week break, travelled a little, and started my summer internship. This summer has been very positive though right now I could use another short break to do a few administrative things for my club responsibilities, take a couple short outdoor trips, work on a few service projects, and spend some time with my dog. That reminds me... In your first year of business school, do not forget about your dog, life partner, kids, or even just your hobbies. It will be important to stay balanced given the ton of stuff that will be going on but do not lose sight of those who love you and are supporting you through your academic experience. Have fun, land the job you want, work hard, and etc but stay grounded and never forget those people and things that make it possible for you to be who you are and to reach the next level. My niece and nephew are that for me!

This semester has been fantastic for a number of reasons. First, now that the 1st semester of the core is over I have been taking classes of most interest to me. The first semester is all about the first 6 classes of the core where you have no flexibility in your schedule. In the second semester however there are only two core classes remaining and depending on your immersion your schedule is up to you. Second, because internship recruiting really heats up this semester, I had a chance to speak with great companies who came to campus looking for those interested and ready for opportunities at their firms. But most importantly, this semester has been great because I have been able to put theory into practice travelling to Dubai to see how companies are positioning themselves within that rapidly emerging market.

Visiting firms is one of the best ways of seeing theory in practice. Taking the operations and strategy core classes, you get to see how firms position themselves to capture and retain market share, at least theoretically. However, visiting firms you get to see up close what firms are up to and the types of impacts they are making. Over spring break, a group of 10 of us from JGSM traveled to Dubai to do just that. We visited manufacturing firms such as ABB and GE, consulting companies such as Booz&Co and BCG, and financial services companies such as Citi and Standard Chartered. We are all interested in working in the Middle East and North Africa region and took the break as an opportunity to visit firms, interview, and build relationships that will make a difference with summer and full time recruiting.

The visit was great and the companies we met were eager to interact with us. There were quite a few JGSM alums and other Cornellians in the region who were all instrumental in opening the doors at these firms. The JGSM network is vast and was critical for pulling off this event. This trip was eye opening for me and revealed the potential to make an impact at firms across the globe. Emerging markets such as Dubai are great places to get in on the ground floor of new business development. Dubai is attractive to multi-nationals firms for the ease of setting up offshore companies. For me (or anyone with limited international experience on your resume), Dubai is highly attractive during or post-MBA. With the only 7-star hotel in the world, tallest building in the world, and other assorted worlds only you-name-its, Dubai is a cool place to do business, gain great experience, and have fun at the same time. This last point is important because when your work is your play, you will never work a day in your life!

I ask this because during the break I reflected a great deal on my first semester. Besides writing cover letters and applying for summer internships, I spent a lot of time thinking about what brought me to business school and how important this experience has been for me. I should have posted this stuff right after the end of the semester but I honestly just wanted to sleep and relax through the holiday (which I was very successful at doing...smile). I am writing only now as I prepare for this next semester and remind myself of what it takes for the journey ahead. As I reflect on what business school means to me, I can safely say that it is far from a 2-year finishing school or break to figure out what to do for the rest of your life (although the month long winter break was quite nice).

Business school is, however, a truly end-to-end learning process that was for me hard to understand at the outset. Prior to coming, I thought I had a good idea of what business school was all about. I figured it was about developing new skills to make even more of an impact in business - and I was largely correct. I considered the social aspects of learning from and with amazing faculty and peers with incredible experience - yup, check there too. I also expected the JGSM program to draw out my talent and challenge me to grow in new and exciting different ways - and oh believe me, it most certainly has. In fact, while sometimes screaming hooray like a champ for a job well done, I was often screaming thank you big brother may I have another like a fraternity pledge. You can find your career answers at business school but , just like in my chosen career of strategy consulting; you have to ask the right questions - and mostly of yourself.

Now on the other side of being admitted and surviving the core and now deciding what to do for the summer (and the rest of my life), I really had no idea of what to expect in the first semester. In fact, had I known in August what I know now, I would have done some things differently even during the spring and summer before orientation. The point is that business school is of course a great educational opportunity to learn and do new things that many of us have likely never done before. But the warm and fuzzy stuff needed to get in, yields quickly to firing-line called the core. The sooner you figure out what it takes the better you will be. At the Johnson School you will reach your goals, but those are up to you to define.

Ann Richards told me when I first visited Johnson (a few years before applying), that from the moment you step on campus, you will find it important to start closing certain doors because you will not have time to do everything. I knew that she had imparted something special in the comment but little did I realize then just how powerful that would be. The Johnson School motto is Real Impact and believe me the core professors know it and they do a good job of making that loud clear. That might not be the warm and fuzzy stuff of application essays but I hope you are not reading this for warm and fuzzy. There is plenty of glossy literature and online content for that. Although my posts are not always as frequent as I would like, one thing I will promise try to do is to be authentic. Thanks Clint!

The pressure is building as we first years enter our final week of classes. After a tough few weeks followed by the short Thanksgiving break, this week may be one the toughest yet. With four days of class and two important core assignments due this week, next weeks final exams are very much upon us. This week will be all about time management and for me will mean very early mornings and relatively long nights. I tend to be a morning person and so my days typically start well before dawn (usually around 4 or 5am). With classes, study time, briefings, career workshops, mentoring, club meetings, team meetings, and spending time with my dog, my days are full of activities. But usually by midnight I begin to wind down or even a little earlier during slower weeks.

With finals next week, however, it is all systems go and no rest for the weary. Strangely, as it turns out, I tend to enjoy crunch times like this. Given short deadlines and high volumes of work I enjoy finding new stores of energy that help me increase my performance and further expand my potential. It is moments like these that I chose JGSM and moments like these that will be the most memorable of my experience. I was glad to have enjoyed my family and eaten plenty of turkey during the Thanksgiving holiday. Now it is time to stand and deliver yet once again. Though, soon enough the core will finally be over for the class of 2010. What is more, however, is that this is only the beginning. Next stop on the JGSM express; Immersions.

As I write this about 40 or so JMB Prospectives (or JMBers for short) are planning to descend on Johnson to get a glimpse of our very special JGSM community. For those who are not aware, JMB stands for Johnson Means Business and is a recruiting weekend for traditionally underrepresented students applying to top MBA programs. Their weekend will be filled with class visits, student and faculty panels, and socials to get a sense of what makes our JGSM culture so special. Its funny because I was a JMBer last year and the program was quite effective at giving me a real sense of what makes our program special - the people. None of the other top programs that I visited seemed to have as genuine a sense of community as what I found during my JMB experience. I found my fit at Johnson then and still very strongly believe that coming to JGSM has been one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life.

Enough for now, its now time to study for finance and for the strategy quiz in the morning...

Today is the last day of fall break which means tomorrow is the start of the 2nd half of the core. The 1st half of the core really came and went pretty quickly and I definitely learned a few things to help manage the stress this time around. Since orientation it seemed that I was on a treadmill that someone just kept speeding up. Sometimes it seemed that the work would just never cease but it retrospect it really just came in waves that were manageable individually but when taken together really became overwhelming at times. I had sometimes found myself devoting too much time to one assignment much to the neglect of my other work and that was a recipe for getting behind lightning-fast. Ive had to learn how to cut the cord on my projects and decide when to move on. The core has been as much about learning how to handle the volume of work as it has been about grasping the technical concepts. The first 7 weeks are in the history books and its now time to get ready for round two and keep working hard to become the high flyer that I came to JGSM to be.

I think Im ready for the 2nd half. I bought (most of) the books for this term and have already completed the assignments for the first two sessions. I also did a prep module for finance which my mentor gave me last year and which should be helpful for getting a jump on some of the finance content. Finance is one of my weaknesses and so Im looking forward to jumping into it and trying to do well in the class. My goal at Johnson is closing the gaps on my resume by taking advantage of as much as I can for the next 3.75 semesters. Im planning on taking the Managerial Finance Immersion next semester to continue building my finance skillset and maybe landing a corporate finance internship for the summer.

I have to admit though that Im still not exactly sure what I do for the summer. My decision is made harder when so many companies come on campus with really cool opportunities both domestically and internationally and across a range of industries that on the surface seem to offer the potential to move me in an interesting direction. But, first things first I guess. The second half of the core means an opportunity to take 3 new classes. Yay! (not really). Thats all Ive got for now and I plan to blog much more consistently now that I have kind of figured out how to survive the core a little better (only a little more worse for wear). Its been tough balancing coursework, attending briefings, becoming active in extracurricular activities, and still finding time to plan the next steps of my career. Luckily, Ive got great roommates and majorly cool colleagues that I constantly compare notes with and leverage as much as possible. More to come.

I studied Engineering Management at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in college and pursed my MS at Illinois State University in the same field. I joined State Farm Insurance in Bloomington, Illinois as a Leadership Development Associate after graduation to broaden my leadership experience. I took an operations optimization assignment later as an internal consultant and my work resulted in significant cost savings for my company. From this experience I realized my ability to make an impact well beyond the purely engineering or general management disciplines and decided to pursue strategy consulting as a full-time career. Even as a first year at The Johnson School, I have found the resources for charting my career to be virtually endless. From individual assessments to casework to career work groups, I have learned a great deal more about my industries of interest and most importantly learned more about myself. Studying and learning with the best minds from around the world has been an incredible opportunity to grow professionally and build long-lasting friendships. In my spare time I enjoy cycling, soccer, rare book collecting.